Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Charmaloo88 — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 14:31:14 GMT

Cats protection are FANTASTIC I always have a lovely chat with a nice person who will do everything they can to help...my main point is that they stick to their word. RSPCA always tell me something will happen (usually to do with collecting strays) then no one shows up. Like I said previously I waited 3 days for someone to collect and each time I called I was told an inspector would be with me in a few hours. I would rather they say 'sorry, can't help' then leave me hanging like that.

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Dreamcatcher — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 21:36:01 GMT

All of this is making me feel very lucky about where I work! We have some fabulous local charities (CPL and Essex Wildlife) who help us out immensely with our stray cats and wildlife, as well as a very kind boss who treats all strays if he can, even if it costs him. Have only had to call the RSPCA on a couple of occasions and never had any help from them in terms of them coming out to animals. Although to be fair they have paid for some basic treatment for strays in the past (I think it was £50). Anyway, I don't want to bash the RSPCA too much after reading Hobbit's post, because I never realised half of what the branches must go through and I'm sure everyone working on the 'front line' are all doing their best with what they've got. (I do think it wouldn't hurt the RSPCA to spend more on their clinic facilities in that case though!). But I just want to hear it for all the great charities out there! Our local wildlife hospital have never turned us away and Cats protection always do their utmost to help, even though they are full with a massive waiting list. I know who I'll be sharing my future lottery winnings with :)

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Sal the 1st — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 23:34:34 GMT

I understand what you are saying Hobbits - we have a dog in at the moment, a stray which is going to be needing quite a bit of treatment. RSPCA insp has been round for photos for their publicity dept but we are going to get next to nothing for treatment and care which is ongoing. We havnt even approached the local branch because we already know what the situation is with them from the last injured stray we had in only a few weeks previous. So the publicity shots will prob be used to raise more funds which again wont necessarily be spent where they are really needed, I think the RSPCA and dare I say a few others need to be making it very clear where donations are being spent.

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

hobbits — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 23:03:14 GMT

I locum at our local RSPCA clinic (small one not one of the London hospitals) I think most of the issues arise from central RSPCA. ( they aren't exactly loved within the branch either) Central RSPCA are the ones with all the money who have the inspectors, animal collection officers etc etc The branch I work at is part of the solent branch which includes the clinic, the ark rescue centre, which also has a small vet clinic and a side run by volunteers who have a small amount of money they can grant to people who are hard up and need emergency ops such as fractures etc. The whole of the solent branch are self funded by donation only. No money comes from the central RSPCA The clinic will do its best to help out and we run at cost price or as close to as we can. We will do our best to help and we never turn away someone with a suffering animal but generally people have to be on benefits (though we will neuter for anyone on a low income- get those tested/uteri gone!) We will take referrals from local vets if people can't afford ops eg pyo BUT- we are limited in what we can do. We are a part time clinic with no hosp facilities. The lease on the building doesn't allow animals in overnight. We have no X-ray machine,no ultrasound and no in house bloods. We CANNOT fix broken legs etc as we just don't have the facilities. We have the same issues as any other vet with providing home visits etc with minimal staffing It's often not that we don't want to but just that we can't Our clinic nearly shut 6 months ago due to making a huge loss. The new head nurse has turned it around but it's a bit disappointing to hear someone say their local clinic was asking for help but people didn't understand the difference between the branch and central Central RSPCA has many many issues, but don't tar your local RSPCA branch clinic unless you know because it's likely to be staffed by people just like you trying to do our best to help animals often with poor owner compliance and with our hands tied by no funds for even basic diagnostics. We have to make the choice between helping where we can and having to say we can't when things are just beyond our scope as it wouldn't be fair for us to 'give it a go' leaving an animal in pain and worse off Hopefully it will help clarify a bit, but I agree with you about the central guys!!

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Ben Gardner RVN — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 21:02:14 GMT

This is a national problem. They need to sort something out. We had an RTA 10 month old owned puppy brought in with a fracture who we couldn't fix as we don't have an orthopaedic vet. The other issue was that the client was on a low income and was eligeable for RSPCA tx. After numerous phone calls and them saying they "wouldn't touch the dog" I sent them down as a walk in. I had contacted numerous other practices but understandably they wouldn't sort out a payment plan. When the client arrived at the RSPCA, the head vet called to basically have a go. Myself and a colleage said we would volunteer at their hospital to pay the clients bill but they still refused. They advised us to put the 10 MONTH old puppy to sleep. Shocking. Luckily my colleage spoke to an old lecturer of hers who offered to repair the fracture as probono(?) (never heard of this phrase before but VERY great full nevertheless!) The dog is now very happy! It wasn't that we were being difficult, we didn't have a vet who could repair the leg. Awful experience.

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

chris beasley — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 20:41:36 GMT

I too have had bad experiences with them recently. Have now removed their box from waiting room and I am in the process of producing a donation box for strays. tonight i had call from our receptionist to say a man had come in with a box for kittens he had "found"! Boss is on holiday at present so have a few days grace but will try the RSPCA tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Sally Seddon — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 20:31:29 GMT

My latest dealings with the RSPCA left me tearing my hair out and almost in tears! It would seem they had a phone call from a client who needed help because her dog was fitting. The RSPCA told her we WOULD go out to her. I informed the client that i had no vet available to go right now as i had 2 emergencies in reception and a full clinic (saturday morning too so there was only myself and the vet in the building). I gave out my usual advice for fitting animals and told the client that if she wanted us to look at the dog then she was welcome to bring him down before 12 noon (when we close). Client then started screaming at me down the phone because "the RSCPA told me you would come to me". Anyway after much yelling on her behalf and much explaining on my behalf about why i could just get the vet to drop everything, and leave the dyspnoeic dog and the bleeding cat in reception, the client hung up. I still dont know wether it was the RSPCA who told her we would go out or wether she made it up but to be honest i wouldnt put it past them to of said it!

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Sal the 1st — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 00:28:41 GMT

[quote user="BengalcatRVN"]

My local RSPCA clinic closed, they did a leaflet drop a while ago asking for funds, but as the RSPCA won't help my genuinely needy clients I won't donate. They dumped a kestral on me once (told member of public to bring it in, their inspecter was busy with a cat on the roof as the local media was there so he had to monitor the situation...). I am a small animal clinic, can cope with garden birds, not birds of prey. Managed to get another non-local wildlife charity to come and collect the following day. Donated them some newspaper, towels and some tinned food I had nearing sell by date. They came up themselves quite a distance. I hope the bird recovered.

That said, spoke to a hospital nurse the other day who was incredably helpful with a client (who'd been once to us, no money, dog HBC) trying to help come up with some ideas to help them with their bills and things, and try and find a way we could help each other. But I am afraid the bad outways the good.

[/quote]

Yes I had similar with a sparrowhawk a few years back - RSPCA had advised MOP to bring it in to us as he had found it in his garden. 5pm on a friday night. wasnt injured just very wet and hungry. took an hour to get through to somebody to be told they couldnt get anybody to collect till the following tuesday and that if I couldnt wait that long I would have to arrange my own transfer to somewhere else but couldnt suggest where that somewhere else might be, and then asked me repeatedly if I was sure it was a sparrowhawk and I in turn repeatedly told him that it definitely was a sparrowhawk and I knew this because I had kept birds of prey myself in the past. I explained that there was nobody at the surgery over the weekend and that as it had taken so long to get through there was now no where open for me to get food. According to him it shouldnt have been a problem for me to take it home over the weekend as I knew all about them. Yes sure I lived in a second floor flat with two cats that would have loved it to bits, in the finish managed to find something edible for it overnight and took it out and released the next morning - hope it did ok. And even tho I spent another hour on the phone bothering to inform them that it had been released and wouldnt need collecting lo and behold on tuesday lunchtime somebody arrived to collect it. The collection officer was mad at me for wasting his time and it was the call centre that had not passed the message on

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Jayney — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 00:05:57 GMT

Interesting topic. Not in defence,only to comment, but I was asked what does the P and C stand for in RSPCA? Also was made aware recently, which I didn't know, the branches are independent charities mainly run by volunteers and do not get funding from the RSPCA. Learnt this when we rung re an injured animal the other week and turned out we were speaking to a volunteer in her bedroom laid up with very bad cold! Very helpful lady. Previous animal clinic worked at if vet partner couldn't get full payment from owner he would approach the RSPCA. Beginning to think that RSPCA should be left to get on with prevention of cruelty and leave everyone else to deal with all other aspects of animals care to others.

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

BengalcatRVN — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 23:29:52 GMT

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Gemma Burden RVN — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 22:25:46 GMT

I suspect we will be having more fun with the RSPCA tomorrow - had a lady phone up tonight who had a neighbour move away 2 years ago whose cat disappeared shortly after, but who she doesnt have any contact with. A cat has now showed up at the house and is trying to get in, so she phoned the CPL for advise. Seems they are following in the RSPCAs footsteps as they told her to take photos of the cat then email them to them. When the lady said she wouldnt be able to do this as she didnt have access to a computer they basically told her they couldnt help and to contact the vets. We have told her to catch it and bring it to us for scanning, but that really after that it if it hasnt got a chip then it will be down to the RSPCA etc to take it in. Really hoping if she catches this cat it will be chipped as not looking forward to another call to the RSPCA.

The mention of having to PTS strays as reminded me of a time we had a fit healthy young entire male cat in that was found on a main road in the middle of nowhere. All he needed was neutering but they told us there was no way they could take him and told us to put him to sleep. Needless to say we didn't, just castrated him and found a home for him ourselves.

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Charmaloo88 — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 22:22:39 GMT

Your use of the word 'numpty' has just made my day!!!!

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Sal the 1st — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:07:18 GMT

well from something I am following on another site it seems they dont follow their own advice then - a cat owner who is very upset that their cat was picked up as a stray in the same street where it lived and euthanased the same day by RSPCA ( the cat was under veterinary treatment for kidney problems). Owner was alerted by a neighbour when she returned from work and rang round every vet and rescue in the area frantically searching for her cat only to find he had been euthanased within an hour or two of being picked up.

re your case surely the vet who has the cat in front of them and the training an knowledge to know if that cat is suffering would have the ultimate say rather than somebody on the end of the phone who hasnt seen the cat and in all probability lacks the training? it doesnt really make sense? I can understand them not wanting to euth an animal too quicky in case an owner was to come forward - but that clearly didnt happen in the case I mentioned above or the owner wouldnt be so upset about it now, and if an animal is genuinely suffering and it isnt just a convenience killing because there is no room then surely the vet should have the final say? The RSPCA are not making many friends in the vet world at the moment so it seems - we have had our own case recently and I am not even going to start on that!

I know the RSPCA are busy, I know their inspectors are at full stretch, I know places in kennels and catteries are scarce and I also know they have some right numpties on the end of their phone lines dealing with queries. The one thing the RSPCA does have is a lot more funding than any other animal charity in this country. People in vet practice are rapidly losing sympathy I am afraid

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Charmaloo88 — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:45:59 GMT

RELATED QUESTION: had another stray (my heart sank when we got the call as I knew it would be another case we couldn't treat) cat presented seriously dehydrated, respiratory distress, probably blind, staggering and confused. RSPCA would only pay for fluids, nothing else...but could not give us permission to PTS and they said the vet in the premises could not make the decision to PTS either as there was no owner to discuss it with?? Where do we stand???

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

zalenski81 — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 15:16:18 GMT

I was once told by the RSPCA to release a dog where it was found as they don't deal with strays that aren't injured. Trouble was the dog was picked up by a MOP on a motorway slip road.....

Madness.

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

louise170388 — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 13:59:34 GMT

Agreed! They can test your patience to put it politely. I find they will do the very least to help out when it comes to strays. Cruelty cases are another matter, I have had good experiences on this side of things. Unfortunately for lost and injured animals they are quite often adv PTS :(

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Roseann21 — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 13:19:45 GMT

Yesterday we had a call from a pest control man who said that there was a fox inside a house and he didn't know what to do, so he called the RSPCA who said it was nothing to do with them and he had to bring it to us to PTS it, as he couldn't catch and then release it as foxes are vermin!

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

molladog — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 10:04:16 GMT

Unfortunately these are the ones that they will quickly get involved with as it is mega publicity + are then likely to get legacies/donations because of high end cruelty cases which the public are made aware of via press etc.

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Yvette Patton RVN MBVNA — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 09:33:57 GMT

In practice have had nothing but problems, never coming out for strays etc, just like everyone else. However, my friends horse was brutally attacked and killed, and the RSPCA were fantastic, they came to the yard immediately and liased with the police and stayed until her body was removed over seeing the whole thing. They are really pushing the case and are determined to get it to court and are not giving in, so in that regards I was actually really impressed, first time ever though!

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Gemma Burden RVN — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 22:31:20 GMT

The thing that always gets me with them on the subject of strays is that whenever we need one taken in they have no space for it, but in my previous practice where we were the vets for the local centre, whenever we had a stray there was always plenty of space for it, and having visited the centre there was always loads of empty kennels. They also had a huge avery build for wild birds, but then claim that they can not take them in.

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Lor12 — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:55:56 GMT

Well Said!

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Charmaloo88 — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:53:00 GMT

SOOOOOOOOO glad I'm not the only one!!! Was ready for a load of insults fired at private practice staff (as I have unfortunately had from RSPCA staff in the past). We actually removed our RSPCA chatty box from reception years ago, replaced with PDSA and Blue Cross who are both fantastic but as far as I know cannot do much for strays. I also had a serious argument with our 'local' RSPCA branch (about 25 miles away) over refusing to fund treatment of RTA dog a few years back, again saying they don't deal with dogs. We called over a stray cat about 6 months later and the woman REFUSED to give us a log number as we had been so rude in the past! Unfortunately I struggle to be pleasant after being kept on hold for 15 minutes, then be cut off and repeat this process about 6 times before you get through to someone who can barely spell the word 'veterinary' let alone offer any help that doesn't consist of releasing the animal in the area it was found or PTS.

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Gemma Burden RVN — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:40:01 GMT

I've had simular problems with them, with one of the cats involved sitting next to me at the moment as no one ever came for him. The last dealing I had with them was over a "stray" cat that a member of the public had found, was worried about his skin, and was told to take him to the local vets. When i told her that we could look at him but wouldnt be able to take him in the member of the public went mad at me as the RSPCA had told her that we would. Ended up getting in a bit of an arguement with the RSPCA as they started implying that we were refusing the treat the cat and couldnt see why it wasnt appropriate for them to tell people that we will take in strays. Turned out a week later when we had found a new home for the cat (although luckily he hadn't gone their yet) that it was the womens neighbours cat and that she had probably brought it in as they didn't get on. But it really annoys me that they feel that they can dicate to us what we will and wont do. And dont even get me started on how they will constantly pick on someone that tries their hardest to look after their animal on limited funds, but will let someone that stands up to them get away with cruelty. We have gypsy horses near us that really are not looked after, but they are too scared to do anything about them as they know the gypsies aren't going to make things easy for them. I now no longer give any money to them and would rather support other charities, and am increasingly finding a lot of members of the public who had had dealings with them are loosing respect for them.

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Lor12 — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:39:10 GMT

I feel exactly the same way as the OP of this thread. I have over the years had the same problems mostly with cats to be honest as our local RSPCA don't even deal with dogs (however they don't say that on their advertising bumph!). Anything that is not a kitten they don't want to know... we got so fed up of being left with the stray animals and having no funds to give them the care they need that we set up a giving pot for any clients to donate in order to keep them alive.

It such a difficult situation as most of us will have bosses on at us asking why there are x amount of stray animals, yet none of the so called rescue will help and those that really care don't want to see a healthy animal whatever the ago PTS for no reason!

Re: Any other RSPCA experiences like this??

Steph Worsley — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 17:46:38 GMT

I've had mixed dealings with the RSPCA over the years, a couple of the practices I worked at dealt with the cruelty cases in the areas so we got to know the local inspectors quite well so we just used to deal directly with them (much easier than going through HO) they were able to give us log numbers etc and could authorise increases in money, they used to collect all our stray dogs and we had a local cattery who used to collevct our stray cats on behalf of the RSPCA, other places I have had similar situations and been very frustrated!!